In first-ever meeting Vintage cruises past Justin-Siena
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
Vintage and Justin-Siena high schools had never met on the football field until Friday night when the Crushers trounced Justin-Siena 48-6.
The Crushers (6-2 overall, 4-0 Vine Valley Athletic League) never trailed in the contest all while having a cast of highlight reel plays on the night.
Vintage had two players with multiple touchdowns on the evening. Viliami Schaumkel had touchdown rushes from 33 and 52 yards out respectively. Schaumkel ended the night with 112 yards on just four carries.
Also, Jacob Aaron had a 8-yard touchdown rush to go along with the biggest play of the night when he picked up a Justin-Siena fumble and returned it to the house for a 58-yard touchdown scamper.
Pedja Zivkovic had two touchdowns as well. One came from 11 yards away and the other was a dandy 42-yard run.
Vintage’s only other score came with 1:53 left until halftime when Troy Ghisletta connected with Mauricio Castro from 13 yards away for a score.
With the rushing attack being so successful on the night all the credit was given to the line.
“That credit is to the line,” Vintage coach Dylan Leach explained. “You know what I mean, so yeah we do have a stable of backs and I always tease Pedja that it’s not a bad run for the sixth best running back on our team, so we joke around a lot like that. But whether it’s Yami (Schaumkel), whether it’s Mo (Castro), whether it’s him (Aaron), or whether it’s Bryce (Eade) and there’s a lot of guys we could name and obviously Michael Webber didn’t play tonight and that’s probably one of our best weapons, so I just think that it’s a testament to the line and the holes that we’re getting. If you watch the film you’ll see that I could’ve ran through those holes right there, and that’s more of a tease to my skill guys right now.”
“It’s been every week man,” Aaron explained of his lineman upfront. “They’ve done a great job every week. It’s also coaching too. Our coaches have really stepped it up the last couple weeks and we’re really starting to trust the process and our offense is rolling now, so yeah the offensive line has done an amazing job in this game as well as in past weeks.”
The Crushers showcased their offensive efficiency on the evening as they scored on all but one of their drives. None of their drives went over seven plays. Even though the offense was efficient Leach gave the props to his defense.
“I think it really comes down to the defense,” he said. “They’re the ones that are giving us the ball back and making plays. And number two (Barrett Donohoe) is obviously a nightmare matchup and I thought we did that well, but offensively I just think we’re gelling, the lines making the right calls, the sophomore right here (Aaron) is calming down the game – it’s getting slower and slower for him, and we’re making the right decisions, so that’s what I think it comes down to. But going forward I mean hey we need to be able to always be efficient because you’re going to run into some teams that are going to be able to defend us a little better than that, and we’re going to have to be efficient during that time.”
The Braves (4-5, 1-4 VVAL) had their lone score came in the fourth quarter when senior quarterback Barrett Donohoe hooked up with Shane Rosenthal for a four-yard touchdown. All night long Donohoe was under duress, but his ability to escape and keep the play alive is something that helps his team out immensely.
“You know I think a lot of that comes from playing scout quarterback,” Justin-Siena coach Brandon LaRocco said of Donohoe’s elusiveness. “When you’re playing with the scout offensive line against the starting defense you tend to just learn how to do that type of thing, but to his credit he’s very good at it. His little spin out move is very good, so we don’t run Barrett a ton, but he can, so he’s fully capable of it, so a lot of credit to his pocket presence and his athletic ability.”
Vintage is by far the best team Justin will face all year according to LaRocco.
“Yeah, they’ve got a lot of size, a lot of athletes, a lot of good running backs, and they just keep kinda rolling them at you and when they’ve got nine lineman on the field you know that’s a lot, so yeah I would say so,” he said of the Crushers.
Next week Justin-Siena will have their bye week before ending the regular season at American Canyon on October 26th. Vintage, meanwhile, will host Sonoma Valley next Friday night at Napa Memorial Stadium.
Vintage JV 48 Justin-Siena 6
Just like in the varsity game Vintage was all over Justin-Siena.
Reed McCaffrey had two touchdowns, Nick Schuttish had one, and Ian Avalos also had one to lead the Crushers (8-0, 4-0 VVAL).
For Justin-Siena (5-4, 2-3 VVAL) their lone score came when Hudson Beers connected with Noah Young for a 67-yard touchdown pass.
Justin will have their bye week next week, while Vintage will host Sonoma Valley next Friday night at 4:45 p.m.
